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. 1999 Oct-Dec;41(4):289–299.

THE ONGOING QUEST FOR SUB-TYPING SUBSTANCE ABUSE : CURRENT STATUS

Nitin Gupta *, Debasish Basu *,*
PMCID: PMC2963832  PMID: 21430800

Abstract

Substance abuse is a heterogenous disorder that necessitates classification for purposes of evaluation and treatment. Although a large number of typologies have been generated, the research has mostly focussed on alcoholism. The typologies of ‘age at onset’ and Cloninger's Type 1/Type2′ have been extensively researched even though there is a lack of adequate validation. The present review of various typologies focusses more on the conceptual and methodological issues. A critique of the typological work is presented; highlighting the paucity of Indian research in this important area of substance abuse.

Keywords: Typology, classification, alcoholism, drug abuse

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Selected References

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